Seat, Shorts, Handlebars?

[SouthernBelle]

Yeah, it's a U.S. thing, shammy. I think it's called a chamois as they were originally made of leather as were the chamois you polished your car with. Neither are leather now.

[tulip]

When I got my first pair of bike shorts in 1983, it was pronounced chamois. They were awfully difficult to find back then. They were wool with real leather chamois. No one, in my experience, said "shammy" back then.

While I am in the US, I have alot of connections to France, including citizenship, language, and I'm a general francophile, so I probably say chamois for that reason, too. I actually saw a real chamois in the Alpes about four years ago. It's like a caribou, I guess, but it lives in the mountains and has a big fuzzy rear.

[oxysback]

While I am in the US, I have alot of connections to France, including citizenship, language, and I'm a general francophile, so I probably say chamois for that reason, too. I actually saw a real chamois in the Alpes about four years ago. It's like a caribou, I guess, but it lives in the mountains and has a big fuzzy rear.

Wow, I had no idea that a chamois was an animal. You learn something new...and all that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamois

Webster has both pronounciations as correct.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chamois